Why is Hewitt betraying the Queens Club?

June 7th, 2010 at 12:49 am

oh the first upset of grass season is here..
juan carlos ferrero has been defeated by some mefert guy..
in straight sets..

June 7th, 2010 at 7:57 am

Djokovic could be the surprise winner.

June 7th, 2010 at 8:11 am

Is JCF losing on grass an upset?

June 7th, 2010 at 9:10 am

Joe: Hi there. JCF does play well on grass just like Fernando Gonzalez. He did have good wins on the surface over the years.

June 7th, 2010 at 9:17 am

Am I correct in thinking that Fed’s agreement with Halle means he gets paid no matter what?

I did not think you can get an appearance fee at an official ATP event.

June 7th, 2010 at 9:22 am

I mean Gerry Weber.

June 7th, 2010 at 9:23 am

JCF is a two time wimbledon quarterfinalist..
he has taken sets off federer himself..
so, he is a decent player..
and a loss at the hand of a guy not even in top 200 is always an upset..

June 7th, 2010 at 9:23 am

“past champions in the field are Murray (2009), Nadal (2008), Roddick (2007, ‘05-03), and Hewitt (2006, ‘02-00).”

Hewitt isn’t in the Queen’s field, he’s playing at Halle (as the article points out in the next paragraph).

June 7th, 2010 at 9:39 am

TGiT,

Yes, he’ll collect a check no matter what. And you can get paid in any ATP event.

BTW, Fed turned down about $60 millions endorsement deals in last 18 months, as of 03/2010.

June 7th, 2010 at 11:11 am

Twocents,

Thanks for the clarification.

What could he have turned down?

I keep expecting the new Mighty Fed Gatorade any day.

June 7th, 2010 at 11:27 am

Perhaps Roger should have ‘cent’ them in your direction so you could rename yourself 60 million and Twocents. I’m sure you would be worth every……..penny.

June 7th, 2010 at 11:27 am

You’re welcome, TGiT. They say many ex-Tiger sponsors are going after the Fed.

Good ideal, Purcell. Trouble is I can’t even count after three, never mind $60 million and in cents. I wouldn’t care for one tenth of penny if I’m dead from counting…

June 7th, 2010 at 11:42 am

i love the grass court season, short as it is. there is something beautiful about the white dress of the players and the green grass.

anyone going to wimbledon this year?

June 7th, 2010 at 11:59 am

Hewitt is only playing at the Gerry Weber Open in Halle, and not at Queen’s Club in London, despite the fact that he’s a multiple champion there. He isn’t playing at both tournaments.

June 7th, 2010 at 12:19 pm

Me too, andrea. I want to go there every year. Pity can’t do it for the past five years.

June 7th, 2010 at 12:24 pm

Oh wow, 60m $? If the twins ever read that after they grow older, they are going to have some choice words for Roger!

how much are the dude’s endorsements as of now?

Tiger at his peak, he had 100m $ a year, or more? Who is the highest earning athlete in the world?

who does the King of the tennis court play tomorrow? nieminen? i think olivier rochus, one of only 2 guys to have had match points against Roger on grass in 7years, is in fed’s quarter.

June 7th, 2010 at 12:30 pm

LOL @ mathew! priceless! hewitt playing both tournaments would have been too good.

He did the right decision to play halle. get some matches under the belt. who knows, if he gets to meet Roger, roger might gift him the match like has been busy doing. hewitt has not beaten him since 2003 davis-cup match.

June 7th, 2010 at 12:34 pm

andrea,

i wish the grass court season was longer! I remember last year, here in the UK press, a lot of critics were saying that there should be more of a grass court season, problem is – when the players play at the start of the tournament, they play on short, lush green carpets of grass, by the end of the two weeks (at wimby), the grass resembles a moto cross dirt track – the head groundsman gave an interview saying that it takes almost a year for them to re-seed the whole venue as they use “very special grass seeds”, which is kind of sweet really.

TGit, there is something on RF.com about roger’s contract with Halle, that he will be playing there every year until he finishes his professional career – he intends playing there for the next 5 years apparently.

June 7th, 2010 at 12:36 pm

Some very fun plays from the Swiss/Germany pairs at Halle!

Tie breaker coming up.

June 7th, 2010 at 12:43 pm

max,
can you imagine there used to be a time when there were 3 slams on grass??
if fed had played in 60s, he could have won a lot of slams…

June 7th, 2010 at 12:43 pm

and sampras too.

June 7th, 2010 at 12:52 pm

Huh: I’m watching Dimitrov, know you like him too. What a raw talent he has, big serve, big forehand, Federesque backhand, moves like a sprinter etc! He’s a bit wild at the mo but only 19, can’t wait to see how he pans out.
skeezer: only 6pm UK time and they’ve already started to talk about the dew!

June 7th, 2010 at 12:58 pm

for that matter mcenroe/edberg/becker too..

June 7th, 2010 at 12:59 pm

Two Cents: Fed is busy on UK advertising Gillette razors. Quite obviously those twins are darned expensive to keep!

June 7th, 2010 at 1:12 pm

on UK TV I mean.

June 7th, 2010 at 1:13 pm

margot,

It’s the holly Wimbledon time of the year. The king cow got to sell something while he can :-))!

Philipp Kohl looked really good at Halle. Too bad both him and Kas showed too much respect to world number two: all body hits were only aimed to poor Allegro.

June 7th, 2010 at 2:02 pm

“Holly” time of year? Not quite yet…shouldn’t laugh, my typo errors are multitude…

June 7th, 2010 at 2:06 pm

It’s all about…

wouldn’t know anything about the 60’s, would have to ask my mum about that. but yes, 3 slams on grass would be wonderful. When i think about it, how many tournaments throughout the year are on:

1) clay
2) grass (I know that one – 2).
3) hard court.

(without me looking up all of the tournaments throughout the year, I would guess you would probably know, being a stat man :).

There is something so classy about grass. So debonair, so genteel, so bourgouise,so kathy and heathcliffe, Emma and Jane Eyre. i can’t wait for wimbledon.

Not only that, but watched the match a little earlier between gasquet and Nishkori, enjoyed seeing all that green!, and then onto dimitriov and our very own, born in belgrade, but raised in UK, Alex Bogdanovic (?), great match so far, 1 set all, and now have taken it off air, so will have to get a live stream.

June 7th, 2010 at 2:12 pm

I dont know why don’t we have equal number of tourneys on clay/grass/hard courts in a year ?
I mean we have murray and djoker (hard court pros), if one of these wins 2-3 master series, the whole ATP points race change and then we have nadal on clay..5000 points in one season of clay. Fed is wimby (just one tourney on grass).. Not sure but i think to be a true ATP world number 1 they should have equal number of tourneys on all surfaces..:(

June 7th, 2010 at 2:40 pm

King of the Court:

I’ll be brief, thanks folr your support yesterdayh — it’s ap;preciated.
_______________
Huh, Ben and blah: Thanks to all of you also.

June 7th, 2010 at 2:47 pm

Have a good laugh, margot. That’s what we’re here for, right?

Apology for my not-so-holy typo. LOL.

June 7th, 2010 at 3:11 pm

About the 60’s, when they took down the Reunion Arena in downtown Dallas last fall, the TV anchor actually mentioned Rod Lavor/Ken Rosewall match as part of its history — that made me so proud of our big D!

The golden 60’s: the finest hours of post war era.

June 7th, 2010 at 3:16 pm

Jatt,

Is there actually a reason for this? (apart from the grass argument – growing for a year – but surely they can buy more grass seeds, and build more venues to accommodate grass?).

How did it happen that there were more hard courts and more clay courts in the first place? does anyone really know the answer?

June 7th, 2010 at 4:01 pm

Twocents – I didn’t know you were in Dallas. I’m from Dallas too! Still live here. Are you going to “Jerry’s world Tennis matches” later in the year?

June 7th, 2010 at 4:30 pm

Mrs.Margot:

Thank you very much for providng info about Dimitrov. I really miss him at slams, hopefully he’d soon kick off smartly at slams. I’ve not even a smidgen of doubt that if Dimi’s able to overcome his initial demons, focusses and aims on his improvement, becomes determined and believes in himself, he’d be absolutely the guy to root for after Fed goes out. Even now I can easily root for him if he faces guys like Nole, Sod etc., even though I like them so much! He’s the maximum talent, all that he needs now is becoming mentally prepared and may be then, Rafa would have like a 5 years younger Fed to contend with. Rafa was lucky, he wasn’t beaten by Dimitrov at Rotterdam in 09. Had Dimi won that match, I think we would have really by now seen him making some noise at slams. But being 19 years old, he has time and I won’t mind him making his start of slam victories(God-Willing) a year or two later. HE’S JUST LIKE A GODDAMN FED-SAFIN MIX! I LOVE IT!

June 7th, 2010 at 4:33 pm

Madmax,

I think maybe laying out a clay court as well as hard court is easy in one shot (means you just need the material for the synthetic surface etc)
but grass court is i guess you are right..One would be dependent on the weather conditions and it would require more maintenance also around the year
Not sure if we have anything like synthetic or artificial grass which behaves the same like natural grass (if one is concerned with the speed and bounce of the ball)
But i think having an equal distribution of tourneys i think would make it fair for everybody to play. ( I mean rafa was brought on clay particularly all the spaniards
whereas compare with players from US , they play well on hard courts.)

June 7th, 2010 at 4:41 pm

Huh, I’ve never seen Dimi play. Is he truly like a ‘young Fed’? If so, I need to start checking him out.

June 7th, 2010 at 4:44 pm

http://www.sportinglife.com/tennis/news/story_get.cgi?STORY_NAME=tennis/10/06/07/TENNIS_French_Nightlead.html

I REALLY LIKED THIS ARTICLE ABOUT NADAL AND AM SURE EVERY NADAL FAN’D LIKE IT.

June 7th, 2010 at 4:47 pm

It is a shame the grass season is so short, with no masters, while clay has three masters. On the other hand, almost no one grows up playing on grass.

Of course I expect Roger and Rafa to be the top two on grass, but behind them Murray and Roddick could be very strong- the semis between those two last year was incredible. Hewitt and Wawrinka also looked very good on grass last year.

June 7th, 2010 at 4:55 pm

Hi guys,

I know this is an old one and you may have already seen it but anyway just wanted to share
Joker is really a comic :)

Novak and Victor as shakira and Nadal..enjoy :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bucJvxTSc4M

You can also search on youtube if somehow the link does not work

June 7th, 2010 at 4:58 pm

FoT:

It’s hard to believe but the game of Dimitrov is eerily/IMPOSSIBLY similar to Fed, you’d not realise he’s not a young Fed unless you see him serve which BTW absolutely looks like Safin serving.

SIMPLY PUT,

DIMITROV GAME = SAFIN SERVICE + EVERYTHING ELSE FEDERER

SEE IT TO BELIEVE IT.

June 7th, 2010 at 5:10 pm

FOT:

DIMITROV’S FH, BH, MOVEMENT AND EVEN ARTISTRY (LMAO) IS ABSOLUTELY SIMILAR TO FED, YOU’VE GOTTA SEE IT TO BELIEVE IT, AS I SAID. JUST WATCH. THE ONLY DIFFERENCE IS HE’S 19 YRS. THE GUY’S ALMOST AS UNMATCHABLE TALENT AS FEDERER, ONLY THING THAT SHOULD BE TESTED NOW IS HIS MENTAL STRENGTH. HIS PLAYING STYLE IS ALMOST AS PEELESS AS THAT OF FEDERER.

June 7th, 2010 at 5:17 pm

Huh,

I think time will tell whether dimitrov would be as successful as Fed..
In Fed’s own words, he used to think having a skillful inventory of classic bh/ fh/shots is the key for being successful in tennis but not until he realised that it was the mental aspect of the game which made him what he is now.
I guess if you see fed in the beginning of the ATP tour till the 2003 wimby , he was trying to figure out his game and once when he realised this aspect of the game he became “the Fed” ..

would be interesting to see how dimitrov fares in the long run..

June 7th, 2010 at 5:41 pm

To all of you in awe of Dimitrov’s talent and possibilities.

The kid doesn’t only play like Roger he has also been working for quite some time now with none other than Roger’s former coach Peter Lundgren.

Diamond in the rough for sure…but as some of you said the mental part needs to fall in place too(as with Gulbis and a few others).

June 7th, 2010 at 6:00 pm

anyone knows why there isn’t a grass court masters or at least 500..i mean it’s the royal surface..at least wimbledon should get more points then for the winner..what d y think?

June 7th, 2010 at 7:25 pm

Hi Van orten,

I think because it is more expensive to maintain these kind of courts.Grass courts were once among the most common tennis surfaces, but are now rare due to high maintenance costs, as they must be watered and mown often, and take a longer time to dry after rain than hard courts. Because wimbledon is a “tradition” kind of Grandslam, i guess it has been carried that way since the old days.. and on the other side of the coin if wimbledon carried more points, i think that would be unfair because of just one tourny, it just changes the whole ATP race dynamics..

June 7th, 2010 at 7:50 pm

@Jatt & Van orten,

Van orten is spot on about high maintenance costs. Grass is a living breathing thing, and if you dig into it, pound on it, it will recover, but with time. Over two weeks however, it’s done. If you watch some of the old wimby stuff in the beginning the grass looks superb. But by the end of the tourney, it gets worn down and brown in some spots, plus bad bounces were very common as the tourney wore on. On the upside, the Wimby guys have done a real great job in improving the “toughness” of the grass since then.

It would be great to have more tourneys on grass. My take is I think we should go back to the days where there surfaces were distinctively different for GS, and make it so. Why not? How?

I don’t think it matters what the surface is, just that the ones in all 4 slams plays distinctively different. Slow, fast, bounces low, high, whatever. The complete player will prevail, that’s why.

Nowadays we talk about this guy and that and how great they are and don’t take into account the guys who won on Clay and Grass, in the past, as an example.

In the “olden days” for instance, it was a huge feat ( like Borg, friggin amazin! ). Why? They went from a slow bounce sliding surface to a low bouncing fast court in the same month. Bye bye Clay specialists! Furthermore, Borg improved his service game so he could compete at wimby, something most Clay courters back then didn’t do. And won. :) 5 Fo and 5 Straight Wimbys, different playing surfaces than now.

Now? It’s ALMOST like just paint them all different colors.

Out

June 7th, 2010 at 8:55 pm

FoT@4:30pm,

Nice to meet you, fellow Cowboy. Who said we don’t love Fed here in States?! LOL. Yes, even though I spend less than half of the time in big D, it’s the only place I call home. Pity I won’t be able to make it to Jerry’s.

Have fun supporting Fed (but don’t bet your dollars on him winning any more major this year).

June 7th, 2010 at 10:46 pm

Henry@6.00. Dimitrov’s now working with Peter Macnamara. I just hope he doesn’t get too “coached” or “drilled” as one of the commentators seemed to think he was being. I’m like huh, I think he’s the real deal.
All of us, on de Bakker bus, I see he won at Halle.

June 8th, 2010 at 1:25 am

Here is a lovely piece of writing about federer, for those of you who are interested. It gives a different perspective! About time! (published yesterday).

http://www.tennisgrandstand.com/archives/6524

June 8th, 2010 at 5:57 am

For FoT and Two Cents:

* Jerry Jones has announced that tennis will be coming to his Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas. The Cowboys Tennis Slam will feature a pair of best-of-three matches including Serena Williams against Maria Sharapova and Andy Roddick taking on John Isner. Matches take place on July 10, six days after Wimbledon finishes. “We have seen the flexibility our new stadium has for holding spectacular events of all kinds and this event should be like no other,” Jones said.

FOt maybe I’ll see you there. I’m thinking of going to see the matches as my brother lives in Dallas.

TwoCents, perhaps you could make the trip to Arlington. However, that’s conditional — you’re not allowed to hold up the British flag. Try finding an American flag with the occasion. LOL

June 8th, 2010 at 6:30 am

s/b for the occasion.

June 8th, 2010 at 6:32 am

Thanks for this Madmax.
Although the majority of reactions were very pleasingI read the comments from Jude, Grace and Bard(?) with despair. I have a suspicion that Jude posts her dislike of Roger on a number of sites. Grace is thoroughly lacking in grace of course and Bard flatters himself with his name…….Shakespeare with statistics.
I don’t know what on earth Roger has done to deserve all this criticism. Unfortunately we’re living in a world where people just don’t know how to react to a regular Swiss guy who just happens to be one of, if not the greatest athletes of all time (and believe me, I’ve thought long and hard about the definition of the word athlete.)
As the mother of sons of a similar age I feel empathic towards the Fed family. However I’m sure they don’t read this dross. If they do I hope they take the same attitude as Roger – as seen in the article.
The British press is already fawning over Nadal, speaking of which, if tennis fans, and I include those of Nadal want a bit of light relief, try “AllIneedisapicketfence.” It’s Fedcentric but delightfully disrespectful and the absolute antithesis of TT.

June 8th, 2010 at 7:05 am

Bye the bye:
This may be a bit late but……….
Congratulations to Nadal.
Congratulations to Robin for slaying two giants and commiserations for reaching two finals and not quite making it.
Congrats to Andy Murray for…well….being Andy Murray and may you improve your form at Wimbs.
Congrats to Andy Rod for a somewhat low-key performance on the Wossy.
I hope that for all fans on this excellent site, your personal favourites do well on the green stuff. It truly does generate some incredible tennis in the way that Tennisx generates some incredible comments.

June 8th, 2010 at 8:09 am

MAXI:

Where did you get that article from?
It was so nice to read a truly balanced article from a fair minded person about our Great Federer. The writer is honest and objective to the core. Kudos to that guy who wrote that article and both kudos and thanks to you for posting the link to that article here, it made my evening! :)

Never mind if the Fed-haters don’t like it, they’re very few. Roger has won the heart of the majority of tennis fans and his haters are in the minority. This is in itself a win-win situation for Federer. Who cares about the haters? At the end of the day, all those legends who played the game acknowledge that Roger is a supremely gracious champion, even the top tennis players have stamped their approval on Roger and believe that nobody carries himself in a more dignified and admirable manner than Roger. Even the great Nadal respects him from the heart and wishes him well. That’s enough for Roger, he doesn’t need approval from some self-righteous Fed haters. It’s no wonder they try to do the character assasination of Federer , but Fed himself doesn’t care about it, why should we. Federer is a well-mannered person, child, husband, friend, brother and father to his near ones, he’s also nice to all others. Fed is nice and respectful to even his arch rival Rafael Nadal! Can’t complain about Roger Federer as a player or as a human being.

CALL HIM TMF/ROGIE, BOTH ARE NICE. :P

WAY TO GO FEDERER!!! :)

June 8th, 2010 at 8:24 am

Purcell:

It is Rafa’s time now and I think he has earned the media coverage he is getting. I am a huge Fed fan, but fair is fair. Federer has done very very bad since AO. Rafa on the other hand has gone strength to strength. 3 1000point tournaments and a GS. That is totally crazy.

Fed will get the same attention if he wins wimbledon, and USopen. that is the nature of sport. Heroes are worshipped. Public memory is very short. There is so much news everywhere. Actually rafa is getting an unfair deal this year because of the football world cup, which is bigger than even olympics.

I say, watch the fed tapes and recycle fed’s articles over the last 7 years, there are tonnes of them, I have collected. I can mail them to you if you are interested.

Allez Roger :)

June 8th, 2010 at 8:31 am

Totally agree with King Of The Court.

ALLEZ ROGER! :D

June 8th, 2010 at 8:39 am

Thanks Huh!

The article was good for federer fans but sounds a little fan-boyish. I mean we as posters can do that, but as a writer, you have to be more professional. It sounds very naive that the author is miffed at Nadal getting media coverage.

The Roger will never beat nadal claim is made mostly by juvenile people and the author is doing a mistake by qualifying such comments. It is like people who say Rafa will never win the US open or Djokovic will never be no.1 or Murray/Andy roddick will never win a grand slam. It just reflects on the people’s lack of understanding the abilities of these super players and how unpredictable the game of tennis can be.

June 8th, 2010 at 9:01 am

thanks max for the article..
not exactly a balanced article.
the guy obviously seems biased..
he has devoted 2 paragrphs to nadal, in a federer article..
now that is not an ideal federer article.
seen and read many much better than this one..
still thanks for poting it, loved the 2nd paragraph..

June 8th, 2010 at 9:26 am

*posting

June 8th, 2010 at 9:26 am

Am I getting a ticking off King of the Court?
I too have watched tapes and read articles over a vast period of time and indeed I regret to say that I’ve been watching tennis since it was played with a club and a mammoth’s testicle.
In terms of unfair deals I think all tennis players and many other sportspeople get an unfair deal at the hands of football both in terms of money and exposure.
I thank Huh for the reassuring post which calms my frustrations.
On a lighter note, I see that Uncle Toni, along with his protege is watching videos of Murray’s serve and Fed’s footwork. Hmm, I hope he’s paying them royalties.

June 8th, 2010 at 9:38 am

Purcell:

Thanks for the laugh about playing tennis with a club and a mammoth’s testicle. I am not too keen on watching that live or on tape. Good that tennis has evolved.

I personally don’t think anyone is going over the top when they say Nadal deserves the media coverage he is getting. Nadal has won 3 MS and a GS on clay and the tennis world should celebrate such a unique achievement.

To each his own. I would call a mistake even if it is done by someone who is praising my own favorite. None of the tennis experts have written Roger off like that author seems to claim. If you have followed tennis well, you know Roger’s best two slams are coming up now. That is reassuring enough for me.

June 8th, 2010 at 10:35 am

Thanks for the article, mad max. another tennis site to check out.

question for you guys, what tennis sites do you rate as your favourite?

Mine are tennis.com, tennis-x, si, espn tennis and bbc message boards and finally atp website. lol!

June 8th, 2010 at 10:40 am

@Huh
You make the interesting comparison between Fed and Dimitrov.
his backhand is much better than federer’s was at the same age.
i mean even at the age of 19, his backhand is eerily similar to gasquet..
a bit more match experience and that single handed backhanded will become a very deadly weapon..
but fed had a better forehand, even at 19 (i remember his sampras match)
his serivce motion, is similar to safins like you said and is pretty solid i’d say that..
and overall, i would call him a gulbis with a better backhand, without a deadly drop lob combination and less experience (not sure about the mental aspect)
he has great variety,just like Federer and that’s what caught my attention in the match, because today’s match, bogdanovic was playing so well, that he could have defeated any other guy ranked below 200..

June 8th, 2010 at 10:47 am

Von:

You are welcome. I am with Huh that you are the nicest of non-federer supporters.

I have been following tennis-x for a long time and I admire your courage for standing up to some nasty posters on tennis-x who keep appearing now and then.

The best of the lot is Cindy Brady. I haven’t seen a more psychotic person than her in any of the blogs. I wonder how her posts go through moderation. Maybe it is a tennis-x intern who is allowed to post, so that they increase the nastiness on the site, which means more hits and more money.

I hope that is not true, but who knows, money drives this world.

June 8th, 2010 at 10:53 am

dimitrov has got some great game, but tennis at the top is all about being mentally strong.

I hope the kid delivers on his talent. He has tonnes of that. fingers crossed for him.

June 8th, 2010 at 11:03 am

Oh, Von, do you have to make me even more guilty by telling me that Roddick will play in Arlington? This Jerry man! How could one put tennis in a football stadium! He must be desperate. I did not have a cell phone the last time Cowboys won Super Bowel. LOL. This world is sliding down to abyss or I’m getting too old. Gotta be both.

I’ll have to wave a beautiful Tibet flag from Lasa to your fun pack. Make sure Roddick will show up before you make the trip: July in DFW is no joke as you know.

June 8th, 2010 at 11:17 am

gasquet and dimitrov???
i have not seen dimitrov’s backhand in action..
but gasquet’s one is so beautiful!!
does that kid actually match gasquet??
i find it tough to believe..
not sure about gulbis thing you say..
the guy can play t any level..
he can lose to someone like moya of now, and also beat fed of 2006(in a best of 3 atleast)..
that’s how different gulbis can be..
gulbis is like safin you know!!..

June 8th, 2010 at 11:29 am

just saw your question now King of the Court..
“question for you guys, what tennis sites do you rate as your favourite?”

i have never been part of sites..
just have followed the game from ’91..
it is only a month ago that i joined my first site, tennisx..
and to me, tennisx is the only one i know and i’m happy here.. :)
though i may try some later..
specially TT..
some people just go bonkers on hearing that name..
so, there must be something about it!! :-)

June 8th, 2010 at 11:38 am

Looking a the two Grass tourneys now ( Halle & Aegon ). IMO it is a bit bothersome in a way when Aegon’s field has Rafa, Murray, Nole, Roddick, Cilic, Querry and Halle(Weber) has Fed, Davy, and who?

Aegon’s for sure the one to watch…

Fed entered Estoril where there was a fairly weak field also. Is this because players are trying to stay away from Fed or Fed staying away from them or neither? Regardless, it seems Fed should be playing against a stronger field in these pre slam tourneys for tough competition. Or does he feel he needs to anymore? eh?

June 8th, 2010 at 12:31 pm

Purcell,

I just got home from work and was about to eat, when I read your post:

“I regret to say that I’ve been watching tennis since it was played with a club and a mammoth’s testicle”.

That is worthy of the heartiest laugh from me, I can tell you, am still giggling now – brilliant if you ask me! Thanks – it’s really lightened the mood. But, I am going to save eating until later now!

Well, I think the article was great for a number of reasons. Firstly it was the first one I have read since the QF of Roland Garros that hadn’t completely written Roger Federer off.

Secondly, it gave a completely different perspective to the roger -v- rafa rivalry.

I enjoyed it and wanted to share with like-minded kin.

Finally, Purcell, I dont take much notice of the replies from some of the posters to that article (on the blog underneath). I read a couple and then it started to detract from the spirit of the journalist.

Some replies want to bring nostradamus to simple articles such as this one, and if that is their want, then so be it.

After reading a ton of negatives, it was a refreshing change to read this, and I didn’t think it could be matched, until I read your mammoth/testicle reference.

Just brilliant.

Huh, I do a ton of reading on tennis, so it was one of those lil gems I found today, when I was having a coffee break –

Just hoping that Federer wins the match today, I get jittery sometimes when he has set point/match point, but am sure that it’s my fragile state (at times), more than him!

Go Roger!

June 8th, 2010 at 1:39 pm

Regarding Roger’s schedule. If you follow Roger’s “tour tracker” on RF.com, you will see that he signed up for the tournaments he was going to play, way back in November. He added Estoril as a 19th tournament, I believe, early part of this year (but he said it was always on the cards). As long as he gets the practice in, is all that matters.

June 8th, 2010 at 1:42 pm

Roger’s through.

6:4, 6:4.

Only saw the livescores at Halle, but did anyone see the match? How was Roger playing?

June 8th, 2010 at 2:06 pm

@madmax

Thanks for diggin that info out on Rog’s scheduling. I was looking for others thoughts andanswers :)

I saw bit and pieces of the match. From what I saw Fed will’ed his serve in the match. Served very well. Had some spotty first round moments, but it was evident with his service game clicking what the outcome would be.

June 8th, 2010 at 2:18 pm

thanks skeeze, am going to try and see if i can get highlights on the live stream later, but thought someone might be watching.

June 8th, 2010 at 2:20 pm

Thomas!
Exactly!

So I’m not alone who thinks that Dimitrov’s BH looks better than Fed, no? Even Fed I think would like the way Dimi hits his FH. :)

Would love to see Dimi face Nadal at Wimbledon if possible.

And of course, Fed’s FH better than Dimitrov’s or anyone else’s in the modern era. :D

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Mrs.Margot:

Laura Robson has got a wildcard entry for Wimby, I read in BBC site. I simply like that girl very much, and I’m not just talking about her tennis! ;)
Nice, beautiful girl. :P
Would root for her gladly.

If you might be interested, my ladies for Wimby are-

1.Venus dearest :)
2.Sharapova dear :D
3.Sweet Laura Robson :P

June 8th, 2010 at 2:20 pm

“Even Fed I think would like the way Dimi hits his FH.”

READ IT AS:

“Even Fed, I think, would like the way Dimi hits his BH.”

June 8th, 2010 at 2:22 pm

6-4 6-4 is not a too bad start for Roger.
Go Roger!!!

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My men (as per my heart) for Wimby are:

1.Roddick (coz I BADLY want him to get his long cherished WIM, so’d root for him above all this time)
2.Murray [the guy needs a slam for the sake of tennis’s good, so (God forbid!)if Roddick can’t do it, then Murray should]
3.If neither of the above two are able to win the WIM, then hopefully it’d be Roger.
4.Tsonga
5.Sod

June 8th, 2010 at 2:30 pm

BTW,

I missed Del Po at FO and now I am badly missing him at Wimby too. :(

I MISS YOU VERY MUCH DEAR DELPO, AT WIM. HOPEFULLY YOU’RE GETTING BETTER AND BETTER AND BETTER.

June 8th, 2010 at 2:32 pm

Wow Davy won 7-6 6-0 at Halle.

June 8th, 2010 at 2:48 pm

Gulbis is overrated.

June 8th, 2010 at 2:51 pm

If Dimitrov really kicks off, then I’d bet my money on him anyday and at any place to school Gulbis. But when he’s gonna kick off is the min question here? Hope it’s soon.

June 8th, 2010 at 2:53 pm

Dimitrov’s BH however is certainly and significantly inferior to Gasquet.

June 8th, 2010 at 2:54 pm

Best sites;
This one
Tennis Planet
Allineedisapicketfence
Gototennis
Bleacher
BBC606 is only for those who reside in The Hall of the Mountain King

June 8th, 2010 at 7:08 pm

King of the Court,

Thanks for the kind words about Von. She has always strived to be respectful to both Fed and Rafa and their fans.

I respect her as someone who speaks her mind intelligently and with reason.

I need to give her a shout-out for Roddick at Wimbledon! It’s the least I can do after she kindly and very publicly congratulated Rafa on his win at RG.

June 9th, 2010 at 5:36 am

You are welcome Mindy. I am glad there are posters who know what a nice poster Von was. I think most rafa and fed fans know she is good to both players though neither are her most favorite player. I think djokovic fans have been trying to smear her as a nasty poster ever since Roddick called on djokovic’s antics during the 2008 USopen.

I would be cheering for andy roddick, after my two favorites Roger and Murray. I am not a huge fan of Rafa, but I am not one of those Roger fans who lives vicariously through Roger and hates rafa for standing up to my favorite. It is amazng how much rafa has achieved at such a young age. What a great player!

June 9th, 2010 at 7:37 am

Thanks game and purcell for answering my question.

Game:

I started following tennis around the same time. I was a die-hard seles fan. I felt absolutely gutted when she was stabbed. That has to be, without a doubt the darkest day in tennis. I then followed sampras and then in 2001 wimbledon, got on to the Federer express. There are a lot of other players I admire as each of them express themselves in their own ways on a tennis court.

Purcell:

Thanks for that list, I will try to access those other sites, sometime.

June 9th, 2010 at 7:43 am

k of c,
nice to see you follow women’s game too..
seles was not really my fav (arantxa sanchez was back then, and later hingis), but i agree that seles’s stabbing was the darkest day indeed..
was actually a 7 year old at the time..
but the news was a big one at the time..
and it was indeed the darkest day in tennis..
i feel that had that not happened, steffi would have won few slams less..
and monica could have had more..
she was on a tear at that time..
as for now, i like fed only when grass season is on.. somehow his game appeals to me only on grass..

June 9th, 2010 at 9:19 am

Game :

I loved sanchez too. I can’t think of anyone not liking her. she always gave everything she had. If I am not mistaken she used to beat one of seles/graf and then loose to the other. It was always fun to watch arantxa play. :) those were my early days in tennis too, and i was around 10 then.

As for seles and graf, i totally agree graf would not have gotten past navratilova’s 18, if seles was not stopped. Seles was stabbed in april 93 before the FO. Prior to that, starting from 91 australian open to 93 australian open, she played 8 out of 9slams. won 7 out of 8. and lost the 8th in the final on grass, her worst surface, to graf.

that is real domination.

June 9th, 2010 at 9:47 am

another thing:

seles-graf is like rafa-federer. federer/graf = smooth elegant graceful techniques. sels/rafa = lefties who used/powerful ground game to stop/reduce the domination of the older player.

Ofcourse seles’ only bad surface was grass and steffi had a much better winning record on french than roger, but she had a nightmare of a time with seles in the early 90s.

I am a fan of hingis too. I like davenport’s clean-striking, venus’ athleticism on grass and serena’s power game and the justine’s elegant game and clijsters’s groundstrokes maria’s fighting spirit and so on….

Fed on grass and nadal on clay = genius at work. Very exciting tennis in both cases.

June 9th, 2010 at 10:14 am

Mindy: Thanks for the shout out, and here’s hoping my Andy does well at Wimbles along with your Rafa.

___________________
king of the court: Thanks mucho. You’re one of the loyal few, so kudos to you. Tha nk you fo not being an et tu brutus.

I’m trying to place you, and Ii’m drawing a blank. Care to give me a hint? I’m thinking behind the keyboard?

June 9th, 2010 at 4:07 pm